Originally Posted by: diemmai100Just for my understanding and motivation I would like to know why scales are important and is it a good idea to skip practicing it and to concentrate first on chords and strumming?

Scales are important for 2 reasons.

1. Conceptually, they are the basic building blocks of music, the raw materials of melodies & chords.

2. Physically, it is extremely valuable to be able to isolate one note at a time. It is a skill that requires lots of practice & the sooner you start working on it, the better.

This is not at all a matter of being a theory geek, or learning to shred lead solos. Playing scales & any one note at a time physical skill will help you with isolating individual notes in chords for arpeggiation, for ornamentation, for walking in & out of chords, for isolating alternating bass lines, for understanding how chords are built from scales to illuminate your understanding of what you are playing.

It will help you understand how the most important component of music is melody & how any series of notes that form virtually unlimited numbers of melodies can be grasped as ways of manipulating & using scales.

So, no, don't skip it. :) Work through it. You will be a better musician for it. Best of success!